International Space Station Astronaut Photographs Spacecraft Burning Up in Atmosphere

The International Space Station said goodbye to a Cygnus spacecraft docked at the station since July. Cygnus, owned by private space company Orbital Science Corp., brought thousands of pounds of food and supplies to the astronauts aboard the ISS.

Cygnus arrived at the station on July 16 after months of delays due to severe weather and technical issues. On Sunday, it detached from the space station and burned up in a fireball as it passed through the Earth’s atmosphere, making a beautiful display photographed by astronauts onboard the ISS.

Alexander Gerst, a European Space Agency astronaut from Germany, tweeted a photo of the spacecraft burning up, commenting that he and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman would also reenter the atmosphere in 84 days as they head back to Earth. He shared the photo in both German and English.

The Cygnus craft had been named Janice Voss, after an astronaut who died from cancer in 2012. Voss, who was 55 at the time of her death, flew on five shuttle flights and spent more than 49 days in space.

Before Cygnus left the ISS, the station had five spacecraft attached to it, the most it can sustain at one time, according to NASA. In addiction to the Cygnus, two Russian Soyuz capsules, a European ATV cargo vessel and a Russian Progress craft were all docked at the station. The next launch to the ISS will take place in late September, when a SpaceX rocket brings more supplies. A new crew will launch on Sept. 25.

Meanwhile, work continues aboard the station, as two Russian cosmonauts ventured out into space for a six-hour spacewalk today. Once in space, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemiev will let loose a nanosatellite, just 4 inches square and weighing less than 2 pounds, according to the Associated Press. "The operation is simple enough,” Atemyev said in a news conference, according to TheTelegraph. “When we egress into the open space, Aleksandr will hand the satellite over to me and I shall let it float.”